Pillow-Inspired Manicure?

Hey everyone!

Today I have for you some more nail art. Yaaaay!

I asked on Twitter if someone could suggest any nail art ideas for me, and my lovely friend Heather of Let Beauty Blossom told me to do a design inspired by her pillow. I was a little hesitant, but after clicking the photo, I fell in love with the colors and the Moroccan-like design.

Heather's pillow:

So I set out to create this design. I had mostly the right colors (China Glaze Kalahari Kiss would have been nice, but I passed on that one and am going back to buy it!). Here's what I came up with:

I'm sure you can point out the sections that inspired each nail (if you feel like it). Not my most perfect work, but I like it =] Here's what I used:

A dotting tool and nail art brush

Reds: OPI Conquistadorable Color and Bullish on OPI

Oranges: Sally Hansen Sun Kissed and China Glaze Desert Sun

Browns: OPI San Tan-tonio and Essie Little Brown Dress

Gold: A very old Avon Striping Polish

Whitish: Champagne Stripe Rite topped with a no-name sheer white

And my elusive right hand. Thumb to pinky the shades are OPI Conquistadorable Color, Sally Hansen Sun Kissed, China Glaze Desert Sun, OPI CC, and OPI San Tan-tonio. I planned on adding some art to my right hand, but time got away from me and I wanted to get the pictures before the sun set. Besides, I kind of like having an 'accent hand.' Or is that just me making excuses for being lazy?

So that's it for now. Have you ever found inspiration from household items? Special thanks to Heather for the suggestion! Go follow her! And if anyone else has any nail art inspiration for me, please share!

Thanks for reading,

Janna

Summertime with Zoya Zuza and Myrta

Hey everyone!

I'm back today with two colors from the Zoya Surf Collection that came out this summer. I really liked the look of these two together so I decided to pair them together. Here are Zoya Zuza (blue) and Zoya Myrta (orange).

Truest to color

As you can see, Myrta is a very red-toned orange and NOT a secondary or pumpkin orange. Don't be fooled! I tried to make sure my pictures are true-to-color.

I really loved both of these colors but I have some comments. They both stained, Myrta more than Zuza surprisingly and I used base coat, so next time I'll have to double-up. The formula was very interesting; they both dried fast so I had some drag marks where the polish came up when I went over it a second time, so I would suggest working fast and as few strokes as possible.

You can also notice the chip on my thumb that I hastily tried to cover up with another coat of polish. I don't think this is the fault of the polish, just so you know.

This is a fun summer manicure and I love a good accent nail. What do you think about the Surf Collection?

Thanks for reading!

Janna

Summer Water Marble!

Helloooo.

As you could have probably noticed, my semester was rough. From mid-February to the end of April I was literally swamped, and then I turned 21 on April 23rd, so I had to go out and celebrate with my friends, of course!

Here's a mani that is epic enough to make up for my 3 month absence (....wow, that's a big claim). I had just gotten home from school when I did this - so, maybe a week and a half ago - and wanted to do something intricate since I usually just slap on polish during the school year and leave it there for a week so it ends up just about as chipped as can be and then I repeat the cycle.

I started with a base of Savvy French White White (not a typo!) and then water marbled with Sally Hansen Lightening (yellow cream), Wet n Wild Sunny Side Up (orange cream), Essie Olé Caliente (coral cream), and OPI Pink Flamenco (berry pink cream) using random dragging motions. The colors came out much brighter than I expected! I also got compliments and/or questions about how I did it from a ton of people, including my male relatives. I loved it and was sad to take it off!

Left hand! Sorry for the horrid lighting.

Anddd the right!

SO BRIGHT!

Mhm.

So my pictures aren't that great but hopefully you get the gist.

And if you'd like, check out my tutorial HERE and my past water marbles using the water marble tag on my blog and this post, a link to which I've conveniently provided for you HERE! You're welcome.

Thanks for reading!

Janna

Sally Hansen Extreme Wear Sun Kissed

Hellooo!

Here's a quick picture of Sally Hansen Extreme Wear Sun Kissed. This was a birthday gift from my boyfriend that I talked about in one of my last haul posts. It's a really pretty orange cream. Not neon at all, but pretty bright. I really liked this one on me =] Sorry for the crappy picture, but this one's definitely awesome in real life. It bubbled a tiny bit but only because I applied three coats in a hurry along with Seche Vite and OPI topcoat, with a fan on. Pretty much a recipe for disaster.

Keeping it short for tonight, but more goodness to come tomorrow! Also, PLEASE don't forget to enter my Long Overdue Giveaway that ends the 23rd!


Janna

Random October Manis

Helloooo. Finals are overrrr and I'm home!

How's everyone?! What have I missed?!

Well, I do know a lot of things I've missed, and I definitely missed showing you my October manis! Let the madness begin!





Milani Hi-Tech. I painted my nails this color for Depression Awareness. Amazing green holo! 3 coats I believe.

Next, one of my favorite manis of all time. This is Polar Bare from the Sally Hansen Salon Manicure line. I bought this thinking it was a stark white, but it's actually a jelly, sheer white. I hated it at first and was going to return it, until I realized that just one coat made my nails look really clean and fresh. Here it is with 4 coats:





After a couple of days, I stamped it with BM plate 21 and Design-a-Nail polish in Voodoo. How amazing is this?! I got so many compliments each day I wore it, even from one of my professors!







Finally, my Halloween mani! I kept it simple for this one: 3 (I believe) coats of an unnamed Color Club obnoxiously-neon orange. If anyone has any idea what this is, let me know! I posted this in one of my haul posts, and it might be Wham! Pow! from their Spring '10 collection (EDIT: actually it's more likely to be Orange Revenge!).





That's all for now! Thanks for reading!


Janna

POTW and My Dislike of "Boyfriend"

So here's a kind of two-in-one post for you, half pedicure, half rant.

Tonight, I joked with my boyfriend about having him paint my nails, and surprisingly, he actually did. I hateeee painting my toes, so having him do it was really nice and sweet.





This is OPI's Clubbin' Til Sunrise, from Summer '09's South Beach Collection. (I found this recently at Ulta on sale for $1.99) And I did two coats of base coat, L.A. Colors, and one coat of top coat, Seche Vite, myself.

I love the color and have been meaning to wear it for a while. It's kind of hard to describe but the pictures are pretty accurate. . . OPI describes it as "golden tangerine," and it's a frost. I didn't even do a clean up in these pictures, and it's pretty much as messy as it is when I do them myself =p (NOTE: I smudged two of them while putting on topcoat but I didn't have the heart to repaint them, so they shall stay smudged.)

And to all the ladies reading this, if you have a guy in your life that would be willing to paint your nails/toes, take him up on it! I had the biggest smile on my face. He looked half confused and half determined, and it actually turned out really really well. =] Thank you again, if you're reading this!



This brings me to my rant portion of the program. Does anyone else hate the word "boyfriend" or "girlfriend"? Whenever I use it, either in conversations with friends, or here in a post, or wherever, I feel like it sounds so pretentious. Like it makes anyone WITHOUT a boyfriend, or girlfriend, depending, feel like they're missing out on something. Having the label is probably a big reason so many people get so down about being single. Another thing, kids in like, 5th grade have "boyfriends" or "girlfriends;" does that put my relationship on the same level as theirs?

Kinda makes me think there should be a different word. Does anyone know what I mean? It's a hard concept to explain.

I mean, I'd much rather refer to him as my best friend, but that's not special enough. I think we need to create a new word that just fits.

That's it for my rant. I'm gonna keep it short, but if anyone has any comments about it or agrees or disagrees, I'll be happy to keep this discussion going. Oh, and if you have comments on the polish, please add those too! =]

Thanks so much for reading.

Janna

My New Favorite Polish and my Old Mani, Revamped

Background Story:

The other day, my boyfriend was shopping and I was texting him about nail polish. =P During conversation, he asked me about what colors I wanted to buy, and I told him I wanted to get some light blues and browns. Long story short, he walked into Ulta all by himself, asked one of the employees for help, and ultimately purchased a bottle of Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear polish, FOR ME =] What a great surprise! So this color is now my new favorite. I mean, in the past he's felt uncomfortable even walking in Ulta with me, so this was a big step, lol. What's the color, you ask?







So I'm now a proud owner of Blue Me Away! This is my second ever Xtreme Wear polish. Application was awesome, and it was near perfect in one coat! The bottle pictures aren't even close to the actual color though. The true color is really right in between the colors shown in the flash and no flash pictures, a deep sky blue.

I put this on my toes and I love it! I'd describe it as a deep sky blue that almost leans teal.

Blurry, but this is quite close to the actual color of the polish.


My toes in cute shoes =]

(EDIT: this color stained horribly, even with a base coat!)

I'll swatch this color later on my nails =] I finished it off with a sun design from my new Bundle Monster fauxnad plates. This design is from BM01, done with Design-a-Nail polish in Frostbite. Closeup:


Well I had so much fun with this that I decided to add a design to my current mani. This is Bundle Monster plate BM03, a flower, done in Sally Hansen Diamond Strength "Sunrise, Sunset." (I added rhinestones shaped like cherries to my ring fingers out of boredom on day 2 of wearing this; ignore it =p)





Blurry of course, but I really like the design and I definitely can't wait to keep playing with my new plates.

Tomorrow I'm going to design my entry for Polish Hoarder Disorder's weekly challenge, and then maybe attempt a new water marble. Every time Colette posts a new entry about one, I feel the need to do it.

That's it for today, and since I've posted two entries, I'm sure you've had your fill. Thank you for stopping by!!

Janna

P.S. My new favorite snack. This is a winning combination!

Fauxnad and Family Nails

I have a feeling this is going to be a long post, so here we go.

First off, does anyone remember the Design-a-Nail by Dee? I got it for Christmas from my parents years ago, and I don't even think they make them anymore. It basically was Konad stamping, only you used a machine with it. You pushed down, pulled the piece closer to scrape the excess polish, pushed the stamper down, picked it up, and pushed it directly onto your nail, which sat snugly on top of the curves of the machine. Sounds complicated, I know. I haven't used it in years, but since I've been reading all these blogs, I wanted to try it again, but I just used the plates it came with, the special polishes, scraper and stamper. Turned out my scraper was absolutely useless, and nothing else seemed to work, so I ordered both a scraper and stamper set and the 21 Bundle Monster plates from amazon.com. The plates were $17 and no charge for shipping! I placed the orders on the 21st of July, the stamper arrived on the 24th and the plates, on the 26th.





As soon as I got my new scraper and stamper, but before my new plates came in, I did my mom's nails in 2 coats of Wet and Wild's Wet Shine "Sunny Side Up" with one layer of Savvy in "French White White" as a base. Then I . . . fauxnaded. . . them using a plate from the Design-a-Nail system, 52M, and a Design-a-Nail special polish in "Rage." I love how it looks, and she was excited to be a hand model.







I love it and I think this was my first full manicure I've ever done using any kind of stamping system, and it was so fun! Her nails are soo long, and she actually just trimmed them. I owe my good nail genes to her!

My sister, on the other hand, can't really grow her nails long, so I guess she got my dad's nail genes, lol. Earlier this week I asked her to let me paint her nails in periwinkle, her favorite color. I also got to use my new-ish dotting tool =]

Super blurry for some reason...






And I used. . .

L.A. Colors Color Craze in Static Electricity, An old unnamed Petites polish that's a periwinkle with a purple flash, a Stripe Right in Gold (that's the name, but it's actually one of those amazing colors right between metallic gold and metallic silver), and a dotting tool/nail brush from Sally's.

Of course, this manicure bit the dust the next day when she went to the beach. She polished them again herself and I begged her to let me put some fauxnad on them, but she won't let me yet. Oh well =p

I'm going to end this here to avoid a super long post. Thanks for reading!

Janna